America needs to make a pledge for racial healing
As Americans wrestle with the national, political and social unrest that threaten the unity and democracy of our nation, there are varying opinions about the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol. However, one thing that we can all agree on is the need for healing.
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the National Day of Racial Healing. People and organizations nationwide are encouraged to “come to the table” and work together to help their communities heal. Considering the current climate in our nation, this is an opportune time to have candid conversations about race, and the need for truth-telling and reconciliation.
Some people try to wrap their heads around homegrown terrorism by saying, “this is not who we are.” The truth is it is not only who we are, but who America has been to millions of people who have been marginalized and disenfranchised because of the color of their skin.
It’s who America was since the early 1600s when English colonists intentionally burned down Powhatan Indian villages, killing and displacing Indians so they could grow tobacco, the “cash crop,” in the fertile soil.
It’s who America was in 1619 when Africans were brought to Virginia, hands and feet shackled in chains, and denied opportunities to control their lives and destinies. It would take a bloody civil war to free their descendants from more than 200 years of traumatizing horrors inflicted upon them before, during and after legalized slavery.
It’s who America was in 1942, when the response to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was to relocate more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent to concentration camps, where they were subjected to overcrowding, food shortages, unsanitary living conditions and being shot and killed for trying to escape.
Admittedly, there has been progress.
But progress came when brave Americans stopped denying racial atrocities and started working to become catalysts for change. The 19th century abolitionist movement took on the seemingly impossible task of abolishing slavery, and eventually saw the landmark Dred Scott Supreme Court decision replaced by the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments granting citizenship rights to more than 4 million newly freed Americans.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and leaders of the civil rights movement took on the seemingly impossible task of achieving racial equality and ending voter suppression, resulting in the desegregation of public transportation, hotels, colleges, businesses and parks, as well as the groundbreaking 1964 Civil Rights and 1965 Voting Rights acts.
Making a commitment to racial healing is vital to the well-being of all Americans. While it may seem impossible, it can be accomplished by taking steps to uncover and acknowledge America’s racial history by establishing national, state and local truth-telling and reconciliation commissions. This was a key strategy to South Africa’s healing after their oppressive apartheid system was dismantled, and it is being embraced by several U.S. communities today.
The aftermath of white supremacy groups descending upon Charlottesville in 2017, which erupted into mob violence leaving one person dead and countless injured, was creating a planning group to explore the establishment of a Truth and Transformation Commission.
Today, as Americans observe the National Day of Racial Healing, let’s be mindful that it falls on the eve of the presidential inauguration. Let’s recall how the 2020 election widened the racial divide in our country. Then let’s commit to truth-telling, racial justice and healing. Working together we can leave a legacy of a just and truthful America to future generations.
Laura Hill founded and leads the Historic Triangle chapter of Coming to the Table, a national racial reconciliation organization with more than 40 chapters nationwide. She also co-chairs Coming to the Table’s Reparations Working Group, which was created to impact racial justice by helping to repair historical harms done to African Americans due to slavery, Jim Crow laws and systemic racism.
Considering the current climate in our nation, this is an opportune time to have candid conversations about race, and the need for truth-telling and reconciliation.